Bus pass move 'discrimination against Catholics' - claim

Angry grandparent Liam Jenkinson (68) this week slammed Rotherham Borough Council’s plans to stop giving out free bus passes to new pupils at  faith schools in an effort to save around £60,000 per year.

Youngsters starting at St Bernard’s Catholic High School, on Herringthorpe Valley Road, from 2013 would no longer qualify for free rides under the proposals, which will affect children at 20 of the borough’s schools.

Mr Jenkinson, a former company director, has suggested that Catholic groups should fight the plans and even resort to withholding taxes in rebellion against the planned move.

More than 330 pupils at St Bernard’s currently have free passes. If the plans were put in place overnight, 250 would lose them.

In a letter to parents, St Bernard’s head teacher David Butler said that the plan was “overwhelmingly focused on St Bernard’s alone,” adding that it “breaks an agreement dating back 50 years.”

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Mr Jenkinson said: “All 11 of my children attended St Bernard’s and now I have two grandchildren there. I’m disgusted at these plans, they represent blatant discrimination.

“Here is a school that has just attained an outstanding rating from Ofsted, that is helping children in the town get a great education and better themselves, and those who are going there are to be penalised simply because of their faith. A stand needs to be made.

“I’m a former businessman so this goes against the grain for me but even a strike on paying local authority taxes might be called for from the catholic community.”

Consultation on the borough council’s proposal to remove funding for free bus passes from youngsters attending faith schools began last month and will go on until January 20.

Changes would be implemented in September, 2013, if passed by borough council transport chiefs.

Speaking after the announcement of the proposal, Mr Butler said: “We’re very concerned by this, not surprisingly, and we would very much urge people to have their say in the consultation.

“Our students come from as far as Maltby, Dinnington, Wales and Kiveton, up to Kimberworth Park. It’s a large area that we serve, so by definition this will greatly affect a large number of families.”

Mr Butler said that St Bernard’s pupils would face transport costs of up to £10 a week if the free passes were scrapped.

In his letter to parents, he added: “Students who cannot afford the fares will effectively be excluded from the outstanding educational experience St Bernard’s offers.”

A council spokesman said that the proposed changes followed a review of the discretionary free transport provided for some younger children and those attending faith schools in Rotherham.

Consultation documents issued by the borough council state that no pupils currently using free bus passes would lose the provision.

It states: “With the exception of secondary school pupils from ‘low income’ families, from September 2013 new starters may only qualify for free transport assistance where they are attending their ‘nearest appropriate qualifying school,’ irrespective of whether this is a denominational or mainsteam school.”

Council documentation states that the proposed revision to the transport policy for children would bring “greater fairness and equity in transport provision.”

Mr Jenkinson said: “To even consider cutting the funding that gets our young people to school when Rotherham Borough Council have just built that lavish new block across from Rotherham Police Station is absolutely despicable.”